Abstract:

With the rapid development of network information technology and the various forms of political participation，
such as e-government，network public opinion，network voting，network political forum and advice-seeking from netizens on
microblogs，the duality of network political participation has become increasingly prominent. It is mainly manifested in the
coexistence of openness with bigotry，convenience with operability，virtuality with randomness，decentralization with control
difficulty，and equality with inequality. Meanwhile，the duality of political participation has brought double effects on the development
of China’s political culture. On the one hand，network political participation can cultivate a rational and moderate
political attitude，thus help to promote socialization of political culture in China，bringing it into one with more civic participation.
On the other hand，irrational political participation hinders the formation of network political culture，and infiltration of
the strong political culture impedes the development of mainstream political culture. Therefore，the author suggests a path to
positive development of both network political participation and political culture.

Key words: the Internet, network information technology, political participation, network political participation, political
culture